Bridgewater-Raynham baseball pounds Lincoln Sudbury

Thursday

May 29, 2014 at 11:29 PMMay 29, 2014 at 11:40 PM

Trojans move on into winner's bracket of Super 8 tournament

Chris McDanielThe Enterprise

BRIDGEWATER — After a day of rain pushed back the Bridgewater-Raynham High baseball team’s Super 8 opening round game against Lincoln-Sudbury on Wednesday, the sun was shining bright on the Trojans on Thursday.No one shined brighter than junior Andrew Noviello.Noviello reached base safely in all six of his at-bats, drove in six RBI, and earned the win on the mound as B-R trounced L-S, 19-4, in a ‘mercy rule’ shortened eight inning game.“He did it all,” said B-R coach John Kearney. “He’s such a good all-around athlete.”The win puts the Trojans in the winners bracket and sets them up for a noon date on Saturday against No. 2 seed St. John’s Prep (17-4) at Campanelli Stadium.The Trojans batted around the lineup in both the sixth and seventh innings, turning a 6-1 lead into a 17-3 blowout.Senior Connor Sullivan ripped a two-RBI single with the bases loaded to start the explosion in the sixth. RBI from Jack Connolly (2-for-4), Tyler Carey and Corey Dinunno (2-for-5, two runs) closed out the sixth-inning rally.An RBI double by junior Jonathan Livolsi (3-for-5, two doubles, three runs), who later scored on a wild pitch, started the engine back up in the seventh, helping set the table for a bases-clearing, three-RBI double by Noviello. Senior captain Joe Freiday followed Noviello with an RBI double.“All of a sudden, the bats just took over,” said Kearney. “It’s hard to explain. The kids just swung the bats great.”Noviello finished the day 3-for-3 with two walks and a hit-by-pitch. B-R jumped on L-S early, scoring two runs in the first — without the benefit of a hit — and three in the second inning. Three walks, a hit batter and a RBI fielder’s choice by Sullivan (2-for-4, three RBI, two runs) allowed Carey (three runs, three walks) and Noviello to score in the bottom of the first.After L-S cut the lead in half, B-R took a 5-1 advantage behind a two-RBI double by Noviello and an RBI single by Freiday (3-for-4, walk, three RBI), which turned out to be enough support for Noviello.Noviello needed 45 pitches to get through the first two innings, but he was able to settle in and pitch seven innings, allowing two earned runs, striking out eight and walking three.“Going through the lineup once for them, I kind of got to know the batters a little better,” said Noviello. “I switched to my off-speed and it kind of threw them off a little bit.”The Trojans’ No. 1 (Carey) and No. 2 hitters (Dinunno) combined to score five runs, helping set the table for Freiday and Noviello to bash in nine RBI.“Tyler and Corey are great 1-2 hitters who set the table for Andrew and for Joe,” said Kearney. “When you’ve got a 3-4 combo like that, it’s great to have.”The win moves the Trojans into the winners’ bracket.“The first game’s the biggest,” said Noviello. “Coach mentioned it — we’ve got to get the first game. We definitely got the first game.”Said Kearney: “It was a good start. You want to win the first one in a double-elimination tournament and get into that winners’ bracket.” B-R scored the final two runs on a L-S error for a 15-run lead and the mercy rule in the bottom of the eighth inning.Sophomore Mike Manning pitched one inning of relief, striking out four and allowing one unearned run.